Chapter 45
Chapter 45
Mad Black Mage's Tower Strategy
Chapter 45
Seo-jin raised his eyebrows as he looked at Nam-gung Cheon, who had torn through space to chase after him.
"Oh, you found me well?"
Seeing his forehead was red, it seemed he had crashed into a wall once.
"You bastard."
Nam-gung Cheon strode toward Seo-jin, trying to grab him by the collar.
Seo-jin stepped back slightly and raised both hands.
"Calm down. Fighting me here won't change anything. Since we've entered The Minotaur's Labyrinth anyway, we have to get back out, right?"
"......"
Once you enter the labyrinth of the labyrinth city, you cannot leave until you clear it.
Even if Nam-gung Cheon subdued Seo-jin here, he would ultimately have to clear the labyrinth to get out.
Seo-jin smiled leisurely and extended his hand.
"So, let's make a bet on escaping the labyrinth."
"......What kind of bet, you bastard."
"If you win, I'll quietly let myself be caught. I'll let you collect the bounty, and I'll return the iron ingot (Sword's Original) I took."
Seo-jin took out the iron ingot (Sword's Original) from his inventory and showed it.
For a moment, a light of desire flickered in Nam-gung Cheon's eyes, but before he could move, Seo-jin put the original back and said:
"But if I win, you'll serve me as your older brother from now on."
Just like in his previous life.
"Crazy bastard. Are they hyping you up as a supernova or whatever, so now you think you're untouchable?"
"I was never touchable to begin with."
"......"
Right.
A normal person wouldn't think to break into the Black Snake Gang and rob their safe right after clearing the tutorial.
"So? Will you do it or not? I don't really need to if you don't want to. I was planning to clear the labyrinth anyway."
Regardless of the bet with Nam-gung Cheon, Seo-jin was planning to clear the unconquered labyrinth for tower climbing.
It didn't matter to him if Nam-gung Cheon didn't accept the bet.
Nam-gung Cheon sighed deeply as if suppressing his anger and said:
"Fine, if you win, I'll serve you as my older brother for life. Though that won't happen."
Nam-gung Cheon smiled and pointed to the giant temple-like door.
"You chose the wrong labyrinth."
The place he had chosen as the betting location was the unconquered labyrinth Labyrinthos.
If this had been a test labyrinth managed by the Tower Entry Management Office, they could have competed on equal terms.
When retaking tower tests, stats and skill levels are adjusted to appropriate values for that floor for that test alone.
Of course, you can't register test records on the leaderboard, but the conditions would be equal.
'But there are no such restrictions in regular fields like this.'
Nam-gung Cheon could use all the stats and skills he had accumulated while reaching level 250.
Though he was penniless after having all his items confiscated by his younger sister, that didn't mean he would struggle against this punk.
Seo-jin chuckled and asked:
"Why? Do you think you have the advantage?"
"Is that even a question."
No matter how much this guy flew around, he was only around level 100. He was no match.
"Then let's do it, the bet."
HISSSS-.
Seo-jin spewed Reverse Heaven's Mana into the air to create a contract.
An ominous sight of black letters blazing like flames.
Seo-jin wrote his name first and handed the contract to Nam-gung Cheon.
"Here, sign it."
"......It looks like something I don't want to sign?"
It looked exactly like a terrifyingly suspicious and dangerous dark contract.
"It doesn't matter as long as you abide by the results of the bet."
After carefully reading the contract's contents, Nam-gung Cheon signed it and asked:
"What happens if we break the contract?"
"A demon will take your soul."
"Ha, a demon? Even a child wouldn't believe such......"
Nam-gung Cheon, who had been joking for a moment, suddenly remembered information he had heard recently.
'Wait. Come to think of it.'
During the 29th floor strategy. The Frontline Strategy Team met The Tower's administrator and heard about the existence of demons that manage The Tower.
It was information not disclosed to the public due to concerns about confusion, but it was shared with high rankers like Nam-gung Cheon.
Nam-gung Cheon broke out in a cold sweat and asked cautiously:
"The demon thing, is it real?"
"Did you forget I'm a black mage? Demons exist. You should have heard through the strategy team."
"......"
'Right, this bastard was a black mage.'
As the protagonist of that famous video raising an army of skeletons, demons might actually exist as he said.
If he broke the contract, he might really lose his soul.
Nam-gung Cheon, inwardly frightened, soon shook his head vigorously.
'No. I just need to win.'
Moreover, his necromancer abilities would be completely useless in the labyrinth.
There weren't any proper corpses to raise here, and if he used mana recklessly, he'd quickly become exhausted and die wandering the labyrinth.
Demon or whatever, if he won the bet, there would be no problem at all.
Seo-jin retrieved the contract and said:
"Good, then I'll take it that you've agreed and we'll start."
TING-.
[Minos's Labyrinth: 2 explorers.]
[Insufficient explorers. Additional party formation recommended.]
"There's no one else to call."
[Proceeding with 2 explorers. Labyrinth activating. Good luck.]
As soon as the announcement ended.
RUMBLEEEE-.
With tremendous vibration, giant maze walls rose high into the sky.
There were two entrances to choose from.
Seo-jin yielded the first choice.
"Choose first."
"Then I won't refuse!"
WHOOSH-.
Nam-gung Cheon lightly moved his feet and climbed up the labyrinth wall.
Having some skill in light-body techniques, he easily climbed the maze wall like a squirrel climbing a tree.
Nam-gung Cheon reached the top of the towering labyrinth wall in an instant.
"I'm going first~"
He waved at Seo-jin and tried to use the trick of crossing between the maze walls.
But.
SMACK-!
"Ugh."
He crashed his head straight into the transparent ceiling and fell down below.
"Urgh."
Perhaps due to the impact of the fall, he writhed on the ground like a caterpillar.
His basic stats were so high that his life wasn't in danger, but he looked quite hurt.
Seo-jin inwardly sneered at his foolish appearance.
'Idiot.'
The creator of this Minos's Labyrinth is Daedalus.
The father of Icarus, who fell while trying to fly close to the sun.
There's no way he would tolerate such tricks of flying over the labyrinth.
Seo-jin chuckled at the sight of him writhing and moved toward the other entrance.
***
30th floor of The Tower. Volcanic archipelago.
A world where tropical cobalt-blue seas and volcanoes bubbling with lava harmoniously blend together.
It was shortly after opening the new floor.
The strategy team was staying at a base camp they had made on one of the volcanic islands.
"Ha-yeon, what are you looking at?"
Kwon Ha-yeon, who had been lying in a hammock between embroidered trees, suddenly felt someone approaching from behind.
A blonde, blue-eyed beauty painted like a picture. Russian-origin Divine Archer, Yelena Blavatsky, a member of the strategy team.
"Ah, yes. Articles about the supernova."
Ha-yeon gently pushed away Yelena, who was clinging to her, and said:
"Looking at the articles, I noticed something peculiar."
"Peculiar?"
"Yes, looking at his activities, there seems to be some kind of pattern."
"Isn't he just an attention-seeker obsessed with setting new records?"
"......Well, it's not exactly just that."
If it were simply for setting new records, he should have climbed only through tower tests supervised by the Tower Entry Management Office.
But this person was different.
Like the early tower climbers, he always conquered the quests or bosses that The Tower provided.
The Tower Entry Management Office tests were just for putting records on the leaderboard.
His actions seemed like solving problems left on each floor.
The Lich King on the 4th floor, the sandworm on the 5th floor too.
Moreover, there were rumors that he was connected to the Thousand-Eyed Demon Tree subjugation on the 3rd floor.
Looking at each one individually, it seemed like he was cleaning up problems that previous climbers couldn't solve while rushing up The Tower.
He wasn't just climbing The Tower, but truly ascending in the real sense.
"Could there be some special meaning?"
To Ha-yeon's question, Yelena answered indifferently:
"Maybe? The administrator we saw last time also said he had met him."
A tower climber who suddenly attacked the administrator. It was definitely referring to the supernova.
"There was news that he had conquered up to the 8th floor. By now, he's probably challenging an unsolved labyrinth on the 9th floor."
"Then it would be Minos's Labyrinth."
The source of all labyrinths existing in the labyrinth city, and Minos's Labyrinth, Labyrinthos, said to have been created by the legendary Daedalus.
It's one of the few labyrinths that haven't been conquered yet.
There are rumors that the natives of the 9th floor offer boys and girls as living sacrifices to prevent the expansion of this living labyrinth.
Having finished her thoughts, Ha-yeon got down from the hammock.
"I'll go to the 10th floor for a bit."
"Why, want to meet that guy once?"
"Yes, when else would I have such leisure time?"
If not now when they had updated the top floor, there would be no free time.
Soon they would have to move busily again to open the 31st floor.
"But why the 10th floor instead of the 9th?"
"I think he'll clear the 9th floor labyrinth quickly and come up. While I'm at it, I'll pre-harvest some Eternal Snow Ice from the 10th floor too."
"Why Eternal Snow Ice? Don't we still have plenty in stock?"
Yelena pointed to the house-sized ice emitting cold air next to the palm tree.
It was thanks to this Eternal Snow Ice that they could stay comfortably in the hot 30th floor volcanic archipelago.
But Ha-yeon smiled and said:
"You never know, right? If that person solves even the ice age on the 10th floor, we might not be able to get Eternal Snow Ice anymore. I'm stocking up in advance."
***
Minos's Labyrinth.
Gray walls rising high to the left and right, seemingly endless to the sky.
Seo-jin leisurely walked through the giant maze, caressing the walls with his hands.
SWISHHH-.
Waves of mana spreading from Seo-jin's fingertips.
Hyeon-wol watched this and asked:
[Right-hand rule, something like that?]
Whether left hand or right hand, designating one wall and following only that wall surface would definitely allow passage through the maze.
Seo-jin shook his head.
"No. This labyrinth can't be passed through that way."
Minos's Labyrinth is a living organism.
Since it can change the shape of walls and paths anytime, it can never be conquered through conventional methods.
[Then why?]
"I'm bored."
[......]
Seo-jin shrugged at Hyeon-wol's glare.
"Just kidding, I need to read the mana like this."
Due to his constitution, he couldn't read the labyrinth's mana that changed moment by moment, so he had to check the mana concentration by feeling it directly with his hands like this.
He sent out weak mana from his fingertips and checked the mana waves returning through the walls.
Through this, he could remember with his body not to retrace his steps, and also.
CRASH-!
The floor suddenly collapsed in front of Seo-jin.
He could detect hidden traps like this in advance.
Seo-jin looked down at the collapsed floor.
Skeletons impaled on sharply protruding spears.
They must be tower climbers who entered the labyrinth carelessly and became sacrifices.
"Perfect timing."
When there are corpses in places like this, there's only one thing to do.
Seo-jin drew blood from his finger and let it drop to the floor.
DROP-.
The blood drop that fell to the floor spread like ripples, forming a magic circle, and a handful of ash rose above it.
SWIRLLLL-.
The ash that rose like black smoke soon formed the shape of a small Lich King.
It was Seo-jin's new familiar, crafted from the S-grade item Ring of Ash and Death obtained from clearing the 4th floor.
[Lich King]
Grade: S-
LV: 33
Race: Skeleton
Owner: Lee Seo-jin
Once a king of the dead who dominated a world, but now is merely a fallen summoned creature. Crafted by the hands of an excellent black mage, it possesses infinite possibilities.
Unique Skills
[Summon Dead]
Can command the dead by consuming mana. The number of dead that can be summoned increases according to level.
[Ring of Ash and Death]
Mana consumption for Summon Dead is reduced by 30 percent. Duration is increased by 30 percent.
[King's Call]
Randomly promotes summoned skeletons by one tier.
[Demonic Nature]
Magic aptitude increases. All damage is reduced by 30 percent. Takes 200 percent additional damage from divine magic.
Finally, the Lich King opened its eyes and commanded:
[Rise.]